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Species
Spartina anglica C. E. Hubbard
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Rounded Global Status Rank: GU - Unrankable
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Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Spartina+anglica |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2014) |
Spartina anglica (Common Cord-grass[1]) is a species of cordgrass that originated in southern England in about 1870. It is an allotetraploid species derived from the hybrid Spartina × townsendii, which arose when the European native cordgrass Spartina maritima (Small Cordgrass) hybridised with the introduced American Spartina alterniflora (Smooth Cordgrass).
It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing 0.4-1.3 m tall, yellowish green in spring and summer, and turning light brown in autumn and winter. The leaves are 20-60 cm long, and 1.5 cm broad at the base, tapering to a point. It produces flowers and seeds on only one side of the stalk. The flowers are a yellowish-green, turning brown by the winter.
Invasive problems[edit]
Spartina anglica was at first seen as a valuable new species for coastal erosion control, its dense root systems binding coastal mud and the stems increasing silt deposition, thereby assisting in land reclamation from the sea. As a result, it was widely planted at coastal sites throughout the British Isles, and has colonised large areas of tidal mudflats, becoming an invasive species. New colonies may take some time to become established, but once they do, vegetative spread by rhizomes is rapid, smothering natural ecosystems and preventing birds like waders from feeding. In some areas however, a natural dieback of unknown cause has reversed the spread, and artificial control is no longer necessary where this dieback has occurred.
It has also been introduced to Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North America, where it has proved to be a serious invasive species causing extensive damage to natural saltmarsh ecosystems in all areas.
References[edit]
- ^ "BSBI List 2007" (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
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See also[edit]
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Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spartina_anglica&oldid=631334815 |
Spartina anglica is an extremely vigorous species, which arose in England at the end of the 19th century by the natural hybridization of S. alterniflora and S. maritima (Curtis) Fernald, followed by a doubling of chromosomes in the resulting sterile hybrid to form a fertile amphidiploid. It was introduced from England to China in 1963 and was planted in coastal areas. At first it spread rapidly, occurring in all coastal provinces by 1985. In recent years it has died back, leaving only small residual colonies. The reasons for the dieback are not fully understood.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200026343 |
Comments: A fertile hybrid of American and European species, according to John Randall, TNC weed ecologist, 7Feb97.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Spartina+anglica |
Canada
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Present
Confidence: Confident
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
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Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Spartina+anglica |
Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems solitary, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Peduncle or rachis scabrous or pubescent, often with long hairs, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets conspicuously hairy , Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glu mes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes keeled or winged, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea longer than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.
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Rights holder/Author | Compiled from several sources by Dr. David Bogler, Missouri Botanical Garden in collaboration with the USDA NRCS NPDC |
Source | http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SPAN5 |
Perennial with soft fleshy rhizomes, deeply rooted. Culms forming large clumps, erect, 10–50(–120) cm tall, 3–35 mm in diam. Leaf sheaths mostly longer than internodes, smooth; leaf blades linear, flat or inrolled upward, 10–45 × 0.7–1.5 cm, smooth, apex fine, hard, upper blades usually patent; ligule 2–3 mm. Racemes racemosely arranged, 2–6(–12), 7–23 cm, stiff, erect or slightly spreading; spikelets closely overlapping; rachis terminating in a hard bristle up to 5 cm. Spikelets 12–21 mm, pubescent; lower glume 2/3–4/5 as long as spikelet, acute; upper glume lanceolate-oblong, as long as spikelet, acute; lemma lanceolate-oblong, ca. 1 cm, keel scaberulous, pubescent, entirely or in upper half; palea slightly longer than lemma. Anthers 7–13 mm. 2n = 124.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200026343 |
Spartina townsendii H. Groves & J. Groves var. anglica (C. E. Hubbard) Lambinon & Maquet.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200026343 |
Isotype for Spartina anglica C.E. Hubb.
Catalog Number: US 2907471
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): C. E. Hubbard
Year Collected: 1968
Locality: Bosham., Sussex, England, Great Britain, Europe
- Isotype: Hubbard, C. E. 1978. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 76: 364.
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Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2106625 |
Tidal mudflats of coast, introduced. Jiangsu, Zhejiang [native to England].
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200026343 |